Jade Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by Insanity-is-Freedom
Summary: Jade is looking forward to her third year at Hogwarts, but why are her parents being so mysterious and who is that escaped convict whose name seems familiar? Sequel to Jade Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Future Jade/Draco. Fem/Harry.
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is the first chapter of the third 'book'. You'll notice that their will a few changes in the basic plot (obviously since James and Lily are still alive and such). I hope you will enjoy it nevertheless and I will be waiting for your reviews. **

**Thanks a lot to my regular and less regular reviewers, your reviews are much appreciated, and I hope you will continue to send them.**

**Guest:**** Christopher and Jade do have different friends in a way…Remember that Ron was only Christopher's friend at first, while Hermione was Jade's. They only became a quartet because of the twins. Also, Christopher will be a bit more active during the next years, since he is the BWL after all. But the heroine of the story is Jade so I do like to give her a bit of the spotlight once in a while ^^ (and could you really imagine Christopher killing a Basilisk?)**

* * *

Jade Potter was sitting on her bed with school books spread around her, a self-inking quill in her hand and piece of parchment in front of her. She finished writing about Wendelyn the Weird and carefully blew the ink dry before rolling the parchment. She quickly gathered her books and placed them in her trunk along with her quill and finished essay. Once she was done she stretched her arms above her head before letting the fall limply to her sides.

Summer hadn't been too bad in the whole. Jade had spent a lot of time playing Quidditch with James and Christopher and having girl's talk with her mother which proved to be more entertaining than she had first thought. She had also been keeping Hedwig busy, sending many letters to Hermione and the Weasleys. Talking of the Weasleys…

The green eyes drifted towards the bedside table where amongst various books, lay a newspaper clipping. It had been sent by Ron along with sneakoscopes for the twins thirteenth birthday. It was an article from the daily prophet retelling how the Weasleys had had a lucky break and won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. The Weasleys had use the money to make a trip to Egypt where their eldest son Bill was working. Between the title in bold capital letters and the article was a wizarding photo in black and white, of the Weasley family. Bill and his parents were in the back with one of the twins on each side (they had probably been separated so that they wouldn't cause trouble). In front was Ron holding his rat, Scabbers, and Ginny. All of them were smiling brightly and looked the very picture of happiness. This had comforted Jade as she had feared that Ginny would be having difficulties recovering from last year's events. She looked fine, though, probably thanks to the trip.

The raven haired girl sighed. She envied those easy smiles. She walked to her trunk and fished the Hogwarts letter she had received the previous evening.

'_Dear Miss Potter,'_ it said.

'_Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three quarters, at eleven o'clock. _

_Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmead at certain week ends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign._

_A list of books for next year is enclosed._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Professor M. McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress'_

She took the permission form and read through it. Hogsmeade was a wizarding village near Hogwarts. She had been very excited about being able to visit it. However, when she had shown the form to her mother before, Lily Potter had seemed hesitant and finally said that they would have to talk about it with James first. Jade knew that something was bothering her parents or they wouldn't have hesitated. It was just the continuation of the strange behaviour that they had adopted after reading one particular edition of the Daily Prophet. Unfortunately, James had been quick to burn the paper as soon as he and his wife had read it and so Jade and Christopher had no idea about what it was supposed to say.

Deciding she might as well go and ask again, Jade took the form and left the room. She walked down the stairs and marched in the living room where her father and mother were reading.

"Mum?" said Jade to catch the red haired woman's attention.

Lily lifted her head and fixed her emerald gaze on her daughter.

"Yes sweetheart?" she said smiling fondly at the raven haired teen.

Jade extended her form.

"I was wondering if you had talked about Dad about…about Hogsmeade." she said, feeling a little nervous.

Her mother's smile vanished. Lily darted a glance at her husband who had also stopped reading.

"Well, your father and I think that it would be best that you didn't go." said Lily slowly.

Jade gaped at her. She looked from her mother to her father and back again.

"But…but why? Everybody will be going!" she said loudly.

Lily looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Yes, well we don't think it will be safe…" started Lily.

"Nothing's ever happened!" cut Jade. "And we'll be accompanied by teachers too!"

"Jade, your mother and I have decided that you wouldn't go and that's final!" said her father sternly.

Jade looked at him angrily.

"But that's not fair! You've been acting weird for the past weeks, telling me and Chris not to go out alone, barely allowing us to go anywhere at all and now you won't let us go to Hogsmeade with everybody else?" she snapped. "What **is** wrong with you two?"

"Jade that's enough!" said James with a warning frown.

"WHY AREN'T YOU TELLING US ANYTHING?" shouted Jade who was trying to fight back furious tears.

James slammed his book on the table.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" roared James Potter.

Before had time to say anything else, all the windows in the room exploded and shattered glass covered the floor. Realizing that she had been the cause of it all and seeing the blood dripping from the many cuts on her father's face, Jade ran from the room. She bumped into her brother who had been attracted by the noise and ran up the stairs without looking at him. She slammed the door of her room shut behind her and stood breathlessly against it. She remained there breathing heavily, unsure of what to do next. Hedwig's worried hoot made her look up to the owl.

"Sorry girl, I'm just a bit upset with my parents." she said soothingly, walking to the owl's perch and caressing the bird's head.

She gave the snowy own an owl treat and petted her for a few minutes longer. Then she heard a tap against her window. She turned to it and caught sight of the eagle owl waiting there. Frowning, as she didn't recognize the owl, she cautiously opened the window and took the envelope that the owl was holding in its beak. She gulped and opened it.

_Miss Jade Lily Potter,_

_We have received notice that underage magic had been performed at Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow. By the Decree of the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizardry such actions are passable of punishment. As it is your first offence, we shall only be sending a warning. However, please note that a second breach of the decree will be followed by your immediate expulsion of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and Wizardry._

_Yours truly,_

_Mafalda Hopkirk, Improper Use of Magic Office, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic._

Jade crumpled the letter angrily. It wasn't like she had **wanted** to break the windows!

Taking a sudden decision the young girl started placing all her belongings in her trunk. She had Hedwig enter her cage and placed it on top of her trunk. Once she was done, she gave her room a last glance. She grabbed her trunk and left the room silently. She was thankful that she had asked her mother to cast a permanent Lightness Spell on her trunk as it would probably have been insanely heavy otherwise.

She arrived downstairs and paused listening intently. It seemed her parents hadn't left the sitting room as she could hear murmurs behind the closed door. She swept past it and opened the front door soundlessly. As soon as she was outside she quickened her pace so as to get as far as possible from the house. Once she was at a safe distance she stopped, sighing deeply. She dropped her trunk on the floor beside her and rummaged in her bottomless bag for her wand. She usually put it in her pockets but she didn't wear robes during the holidays as she felt more comfortable in jeans. Unfortunately, jeans destined for females had very small pockets in which it was absolutely impossible to fit a wand.

The sound of a branch cracking made her spin around. She squinted her eyes to see what had caused the noise in the relative darkness. When she saw it she froze. It was a tall black hound, standing amongst the trees behind her and staring at her intently. Jade was not superstitious, she was not, even though she had reasons to be. She was not superstitious, therefore she would absolutely not believe that that hound she was seeing was the Grim; she would **not**!

Not taking her eyes of the unmoving dog she grabbed her wand and held it in the air. A second later, a loud BANG announced the arrival of the Knight Bus. Jade hurriedly lifted her trunk and climbed in the bus. She looked back at where the hound was standing, but he had disappeared. She gulped; no, this hadn't been a death omen, it had **not**!

"Welcome to the Knight Bus." said a conductor in purple uniform. "Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening."

"Yes hello, er, Stan." replied Jade quickly. "I'd like to go to Diagon Alley, please."

"Right 'choo are, miss! That'd be eleven sickles." announced Stan.

Jade rummaged in her bag and handed the young man some silver coins. Stan took the money and led her to a seat inside the bus. Once she had settled, the bus left with another loud BANG.

"So woss your name?" asked Stan who'd sat just behind the driver's seat.

The raven haired girl peered at him suspiciously.

"Jade." she said after a minute.

"Right, I'm Stan and that's Ernie Prang, our driver." replied the young man.

Jade refrained from telling him he had already introduced himself and nodded politely instead.

"Best go wake up Madam Marsh, Stan." said Ern. "We'll be in Abergavenny in a minute."

The young conductor obliged and disappeared through a wooden door. He came back a minute later, followed by a slightly greenish witch. Ern slammed the brake just as Stan and the witch reached the doors which flung open.

"'Ere you go Madam Marsh." said Stan happily.

The witch placed a handkerchief in front of her mouth and tottered out of the Bus. Stan threw her bag after her and the bus departed once more.

The sudden turns and lurches of the bus were starting to make Jade slightly sick. She rarely took the Knight Bus as her parents weren't partisans of it. She'd forgotten just how bad it was…

Stan was sitting on his seat again and had taken out a copy of the Daily Prophet. Jade glanced at the front page and read the bold black title: **BLACK STILL AT LARGE**. She frowned, strange she'd heard nothing about a 'Black' who from the looks of it was an escaped convict, and she had read every single copy of the Daily Prophet they had received except the one her father had destroyed.

"May I see that newspaper?" she asked the conductor.

Stan looked up, looking mildly surprised but gave her the newspaper nonetheless.

**BLACK STILL AT LARGE**

_Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held by Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today. _

'_We are doing everything we can to recapture Black,' said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning. 'and we beg the magical community to remain calm.'_

_Fudge has been criticised by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis._

'_Well, really, I had to, don't you know,' said an irritable Fudge. 'Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it, who'd believe him if he did?'_

_While Muggles have been told that Black carries a gun (a kind of metal wand which Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse._

Sirius Black…Jade could have sworn she had heard this name before. Well, he did seem like a celebrity in his own field. But she didn't think she had heard the name coupled with either murder or Azkaban, after all, it wasn't like he had appeared on the news since twelve years ago. And twelve years ago she had barely been a year old, so she couldn't have remembered it from then.

"Scary lookin' fing , inee?" said Stan noticing what she was looking at.

Jade nodded absent-mindedly.

"He murdered thirteen people with only one curse?" she asked giving the conductor his newspaper.

"Big trouble it caused, dinnit Ern?"

"Yep, and in broad daylight too." said Stan. "In front of witnesses an' all. Big trouble it caused, dinnit Ern?"

"Ar." said Ern darkly.

"Black wos a big supporter of You-Know-Oo." added Stan.

Despite the heavy atmosphere, Jade nearly laughed. You had to admit that the way Stan said 'You-know-Oo' was pretty funny.

"So he was close to Vol…You-Know-Who?" asked Jade.

"Yeah, that's right. Very close to You-Know-Oo they say….anyway when little Christopher Potter put paid to You-Know-Oo all the Death Eaters was tracked down, wasn't they Ern? Most of them knew it was over with You-Know-Oo gone , and they came quiet. But not Sirius Black I 'eard he thought 'e'd be second in command once You-Know-Oo 'ad taken over. Anyway, they cornered Black in a street full of Muggles an' Black took out his wand an' 'e blasted 'alf the street apart, an' a wizard got it, an' so did a dozen of Muggles what got in the way. 'Orrible, hey? An' you know what Black did then?" asked Stan in a dramatic whisper.

Jade shook her head.

"Laughed!" said Stan. "Jus' stood there and laughed. An' when reinforcements from the Ministry got there, 'e went wiv 'em quiet as anyfink, still laughing 'is 'ead off. 'Cos 'e's mad, inee, Ern? Inee mad?"

"If he weren't when he went to Azkaban, he will be now," said Ern slowly. "I'd blow meself up before I set foot in that place. Serves him right, mind…after what he did…"

Jade leaned back in her seat shutting off the two men's voices. Where had she heard that name before? And in what context? She couldn't quite imagine either of her parents talking about a mass murderer to their children. She didn't discuss such things with her brother; it couldn't be help, he'd been a real wimp as a child and he would have had nightmares. She didn't think she had heard of him at Hogwarts…but that didn't leave many options…

"'Ere we are Jade!" called Stan bringing her out of her thoughts.

The raven haired girl got up and climbed the steps onto the pavement. Stan gave took her trunk out of the bus for her.

"Thanks." said Jade taking the trunk from the conductor. "Bye then."

The Knight Bus was gone in a loud Bang and Jade was left alone in a dark Diagon Alley. Thankfully she wasn't far from the Leaky Cauldron. She hurried down the street and was soon inside the pub. A stooping figure carrying a lantern appeared behind the bar. It was the tootheless landlord, Tom.

"Er, good evening." greeted Jade approaching the bar. "I was wondering if you had a room for me?"

The innkeeper nodded.

"Room eleven's free." he said.

Tom took the trunk and heaved it up the stairs. The raven haired girl followed him up the wooden staircase to a door with a brass number eleven on it. The innkeep unlocked the door and opened it. Jade followed him inside. There she discovered a rather comfortable-looking bed, and simple wooden furniture.

"Here are your keys, Miss…"

"Potter." supplied the girl. "Jade Potter."

tom raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. There weren't many Potters so he had probably guessed whose daughter she was. It didn't matter, though.

"Well, Miss Potter, I'll be on my way now, don't hesitate to call if you need anything." said Tom leaving the room.

"Thank you, sir. Good night." she called after him.

Once the man was gone she walked over to her trunk and opened it. She pulled out a pair of pyjamas and changed for bed. She was about to get under the covers when Hedwig started making a racket in her cage.

"Oh, sorry Hedwig."

The raven haired girl went to open the cage. The snowy owl flew onto her shoulder and started nipping her ear fondly. Jade giggled and caressed the bird's feathers. She went to open the small window, and the owl flew off with a last hoot. Jade quickly shut the window again, there was a fire in the room but it was no reason to make it colder.

She got to her bed and slipped under the warm covers, wondering if her parents had noticed she was gone. They probably had, and she would be hearing about them tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm impressed by how quickly I managed to write that chapter! Not that anyone cares. Anyway, thanks a lot to all the people who have favorited/followed the stories of the Jade series and I hope you'll continue reading until the end (at least the end of Prisoner of Azkaban ^^).**

**Guest :**** Should I satisfy your curiosity or not ? ^^ I think I'll give you a few hints and hopefully it won't spoil the fun of waiting for next chapters. Now James indeed bragged to his children about being an Animagus which is part of the reason why Jade thinks they're the coolest thing on Earth. As for tales of the Marauders, he of course told his kids all about it but didn't really go into details as to who belonged in the group. And even though he told them that ****he**** was an Animagus he never said anything about the others. Of course, as I said in the first chapter the name of Sirius Black is familiar to Jade. **

**I won't say anything more! You'll just have to wait for the next chapters to get the details!**

* * *

The morning after her 'escape', Jade was joined by Remus. The werewolf arrived just as she was enjoying homemade pancakes that Tom had skilfully made for her. When the man suddenly sat across her at the table, Jade whose mouth was full of pancake soaked in syrup could only widen her eyes. She hurriedly finished her mouthful, drank some water to help the food down her throat and stared at the man.

"Uncle Remus, what are you doing here?" she asked.

The man in front of her smiled tiredly. He always looked tired. That was of course because he was a werewolf. His transformations took a lot out of him and he couldn't find good jobs because of the laws, he therefore didn't have much of a regular income and lived a difficult life of poverty.

"Your parents asked me to come and see you, your dad wanted to come himself but Lily thought you wouldn't appreciate seeing them right now." replied the pale man.

It was definitely scary how well her mother knew her, Jade thought. But she supposed it had its advantages. For instance, if they had appeared in front of her today she wasn't sure she would have been able to remain polite even if they were in public.

"Did they ask you to bring me back?" asked the raven haired girl.

"No, your dad wanted me too but your mother thought that you would be in need of time." replied Remus.

Jade raised an eyebrow she had never noticed just how much authority her mother had over her father. By the sound of it she had a lot.

"So you're just here to check that I haven't been murdered by an escaped convict?" she asked, purposefully hinting at her new found knowledge of what had been hidden from her and her twin.

She spread strawberry ham on her last pancake, as the man sighed heavily.

"You know about it, then?" he asked.

The raven haired girl looked up from her plate to look at the werewolf. The man didn't look angry just tired. She nodded.

"Yes, I saw it in the Daily Prophet on the Knight Bus." she explained. "Sirius Black, one of Voldermort's followers."

When he heard the name 'Sirius Black', Remus tensed. The emerald eyes narrowed, he knew something he wasn't telling her. This was definitely suspicious. She was absolutely sure there was more to that Sirius Black than what she had seen in the Daily Prophet, after all she was positive she had heard that name before. She just couldn't remember when.

"Actually, I didn't just come to check upon you." said Remus. "I'm going to spend the last two weeks until the start of term with you."

Jade munched her strawberry pancake slowly, a thoughtful look on her face.

"So you're on babysitting duty." she said finally. "Will we be staying here at the Leaky Cauldron?"

The man nodded.

"I already rented a room for myself." said the werewolf. "By the way, your mother told me that you hadn't bought any of your school supplies."

"Yeah, I was planning to do that today actually. I don't need much anyway. Just my books, parchment, ink, quills and Potions ingredients." said the raven haired girl. "I didn't grow at all so I don't need new robes."

The man smiled.

"Well, I'm sure you'll have a growth spurt sometime soon." he assured her.

Jade beamed at him.

"Right, you think so too! Dad kept telling me I might have already reached my maximum height." she complained. "That idiot! Why isn't he nice like you are? I wish uncle Remus was **my** godfather instead of Christopher's, then I could call you 'Dad' just to make him mad!"

Remus laughed though it seemed a bit strained. Jade found it a bit strange but decided it was probably nothing. That's right, Remus was probably just tired nothing to fuss over.

"Anyway Uncle Remus, did you find a new job yet?" she asked, fearing that the reason why the man had time to look after her was because he couldn't find one.

To her surprise and relief the man smiled.

"I did. I will be starting my work in two weeks." said the man with a mysterious smile.

"What is it then?" asked Jade curiously.

The man laughed softly.

"That's a surprise." he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, just like the one he had when he talked about the Marauders adventures. "If you behave well I'll tell you before you get on the train."

Jade pouted, making the man laugh cheerfully. Jade soon joined in. When the young girl had finished the last mouthful of pancake, she went back to her room to brush her teeth and get her money. She then went back down and met with Remus. They spent all morning shopping. It was quite fun to shop for supplies with her Uncle Remus, the man was surprisingly funny. Maybe it was a side effect of being friends with James…

They first went to get ink, quills and parchment at Scribbulus Writing Implements. Jade bought her usual dark red ink which was used by most Gryffindors as well as a pot of colour changing ink. She spent a lot of time looking at a pot of dark green ink. She really liked dark green, it was by far her favourite colour. That was of course because it was her mother's eye colour. She wasn't that fond of other kind of greens though, especially emerald green…Anyway, she couldn't buy green ink because green was Slytherin's colour and it could be badly interpreted by her fellow Gryffindors. It was stupid but unfortunately it was also reality.

She moved to the quills and picked a couple of Fooper quills. She didn't hesitate very long for the colours as it was orange, yellow, lime green or pink. She hated lime green and pink would just be a disaster so she chose a yellow and an orange quill. She then bought herself a magnificent eagle feather quill. It was a bit too fancy for class but she could use it for writing letters and such. Parchment didn't take quite as much time as she always took plain parchment for school.

She went to pay for her supplies and set to find Remus, she finally found the man standing by the door with a brown bag similar to the one she was holding.

"Are you done?" he asked smiling.

"Yes, did I make you wait?" said the raven haired girl.

"Not at all." he said shaking his head, then he extended the bag towards her. "Here a little present."

Jade blushed and took the bag.

"You didn't have to buy me a present, Uncle Remus." she protested.

"It's fine, it's not a big present and you looked like you wanted it." he said dismissing her protests with a wave of the hand.

The raven haired girl opened the bag and fished a pot of the dark green ink she had been looking at. Her blush deepened.

"Thank you, Uncle Remus." she said softly, staring at the pot of ink as if she had just been presented with the Holy Grail.

"And don't refrain from using it just because green is Slytherin's colour." he added sternly. "You should just do whatever you want, without listening to others. You don't have to hide the fact that you like green just because people would disapprove."

Jade at a loss for words just nodded, smiling brightly.

"Use it to send letters to your father." said Remus with a mischievous smile. "It'll make him go green!"

They laughed causing other customers to turn to them in surprise.

Once they had regained their composure they left the shop. They decided to go Flourish and Blotts next. On the way there Jade stopped in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies to admire the new Firebolt. It was the latest broom that surpassed even the Nimbus. She was practically drooling by the time Remus finally dragged her away from the shop window.

Getting the books was rather quick. Jade went to buy her schoolbooks while Remus went to have a look around. The werewolf loved books, so much so that he had been called 'the bookworm' by James on more than one occasion. He was a bit like Hermione really. He never looked completely himself if he didn't have a book in his arms and he was most at home in libraries and bookshops.

After the books were the Potions ingredients. For those they went to Slug and Jiggers Apotheticary. At last they had bought everything. Remus treated her to an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Once Jade had vanquished her chocolate and pistachio ice cream and Remus was done eating his vanilla and toffee ice cream, they went back to the inn. They left their shopping in their respective rooms and went to have a light lunch. In the afternoon they changed to Muggle clothes and went on a trip in Muggle London.

* * *

Two weeks went by in a flash. Remus and Jade occupied themselves by walking up and down Diagon Alley until they knew it by heart. They also went into Muggle London a lot. Remus was keen on visiting every bookshop they saw. It was actually interesting to see Muggle books. Jade bought a few for herself. She also bought a very nice wooden box, which played music when you opened it. It was apparently called a music box, though this one was a bit bigger than usual as it was designed to be a jewellery box. Jade wasn't sure the box would ever see any jewellery as she didn't wear any herself but a box was a box and you could always find a use for one. More than the box itself, it was the music she liked. The shop owner had told her it was a song called Letter to Elise by a Muggle compositor called Beethoven. It gave her a nostalgic feeling whenever she listened to it.

During the second week, she met up with Hermione and the Weasleys. She was delighted to see all her friends and accompanied them shopping for their school supplies even though she had already bought hers. Remus stayed at the inn for a well-deserved rest.

Hermione was very excited about all her new subjects. It sounded like she hadn't been able to choose and took all of them. This startled Jade a bit as she didn't see how the bushy haired girl would be able to have time to attend all the classes. She didn't comment on it as she didn't want to spoil her friend's excitement.

Ron and Ginny weren't that excited about the year to come. What really interested them were the Quidditch season and the new Firebolt. Jade spent a lot of time with the two youngest Weasleys as well as Fred and George discussing the new broom. They also went to look at it in Quality Quidditch Supplies' shop window.

During the shopping trip, Hermione expressed her wish to have a pet.

"Well Jade has Hedwig, Ron has Scabbers and Christopher wrote to me saying he had gotten an owl called Orion for his birthday." she complained.

Christopher had indeed received an owl, it was a male black owl with impressive purple eyes. It was apparently a magical race unlike Hedwig so he had a better stamina and strength. In Jade's opinion, Hedwig was still better and more beautiful than that disdainful owl (ever since she had first seen it Jade had been convinced that Orion looked down on her).

"I can give you Scabbers if you want." said Ron with hope in his voice. "He's ill though, has been since we came back from Egypt…"

After Hermione had politely declined the red haired boy's offer, they had gone to the Magical Menagerie. Ron went to see the witch at the counter for his rat. While Hermione and Jade looked at the various animals. There were a lot of different kinds of pets such as purple toads, cats of all coulours, owls though none were as beautiful as Hedwig and black rats in a cage. The latter looked particularly nasty and the two girls quickly left the cage behind.

"I think I'd like an owl." said Hermione. "I mean they're pretty handy since they can carry your post."

"Yeah and they're nice pets too." agreed Jade.

The decision made the two girls went to the counter where Ron was having his rat examined.

"Okay well, if you don't want a replacement, you can try this Rat Tonic." said the witch at the counter.

"Ok." said Ron. "How much…OUCH!"

Something huge and orange had leapt on Ron and was fiercely trying to get to Scabbers who was on the counter.

"Crookshank, NO!" yelled the witch at the counter.

It was too late though as Scabbers had already fled. He had scampered off the counter and out of the shop.

"Scabbers!" cried Ron running after the rat.

Jade hurriedly followed after the red haired boy. Together they searched the street for the missing rat. It took them a good ten minutes to find it hidden under a bin near Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron placed the trembling animal in his pocket.

"What the hell was that?" he grumbled.

"Either a small tiger or a very big cat." replied Jade. "I tend to think a tiger, though. It's probably a mutated kind or maybe a tiger-dwarf!"

"Er, right." said Ron not quite perceiving the reason for the girl's sudden excitement.

At that moment, Hermione came running towards them, carrying a large orange fur ball in her arms. As soon as he set eyes on the fur ball, Ron gave an indignant cry.

"You bought that monster!" he exclaimed.

Hermione blushed slightly.

"Well, poor Crookshanks has been in there forever and no one wanted him." she explained.

"Can't imagine why." grumbled Ron darkly. "Or rather I can't imagine why you'd buy such an ugly monster…"

"He's not ugly, he's a gorgeous cat." protested Hermione. "Aren't you Crookshanks?"

"Gorgeous…" repeated Jade.

The animal wasn't anything near gorgeous. Its fur was thick and a particularly distasteful shade of orange. It was a bit low-legged and his face was squashed as if he had run straight into a wall. Not to mention, it looked grumpy. Which, now that she thought of it, was pretty funny for a cat…A cat?

"That's a cat?" asked Jade disappointment evident in her voice.

Hermione and Ron stopped bickering to look at her.

"It's not a mutated tiger?"

"No, Jade. It's a cat." said Hermione at last.

It was Jade's turn to grumble.

"Well where's the fun in that?" she muttered under her breath.

Hermione seemed to have heard her as she rolled her eyes at her.

* * *

They parted with the promise to meet up on the Hogwarts Express and this time Christopher would be with them. Hermione had been curious as to why Jade was staying in Diagon Alley with her dad's friend rather than at home with her family. The raven haired girl had told her that she had had a fight with her parents and had ended up leaving the house. It wasn't a lie, she just didn't go into details. As far as she was concerned the matter of what her parents had tried to hide from her and her twin was a private one, and it was therefore none of Hermione's business. Though, she didn't tell the bushy haired girl that for fear of upsetting her.


	3. Chapter 3

**As I have recently received a few criticisms via reviews, I must ask of my readers who wish to criticise my work to take the time to write a constructive criticism. Reviews such as 'I spy a Mary Sue' or 'you're a deluded writer' are not very helpful as they don't tell me what I should correct. Now I can handle being insulted ****and**** criticised but please make it constructive! And if you're going to insult me then please try and make it original so that I can have a good laugh while reading it.**

**Now as I have also received constructive criticism I have taken note of various problems in my fic. I will try not to let Christopher fade in the background, I promise. As for things being too fast paced…I'll try and get better but I'm not sure if I'll manage. I'm afraid that is as much as a preference for action as an inability to write extensive chapters. I promise to try though!**

* * *

The first of September finally arrived and Jade and Remus left for King's Cross station with their trunks. It had puzzled Jade that Remus was also taking his trunk but she had asked he had just told her that it he would be leaving for his job as well. The raven haired girl had assumed he was going to leave directly from King's Cross after he had seen her off, apparate or something.

They had gotten there quite early as Jade wasn't prepared to see her parents yet, and she knew that they would be accompanying their son to the station. As she stood on the platform by the werewolf's side, she felt hesitant to leave.

"Alright, I think it's time I tell you what my work will be." announced the man with a cheerful smile.

Jade immediately turned to him, her face full of expectation. The man laughed at her curious expression.

"I'm going to be teaching at Hogwarts." he announced proudly.

Jade gaped. Remus, her Uncle Remus was going to be a teacher! Merlin, that was quite the surprise. Her first reaction once she gotten over the initial shock was to ask herself what position he would be filling. It wasn't until the obvious answer came to her mind. Of course Lockhart would be gone. She smiled as she remembered how the idiot had been found wandering the corridors aimlessly. It seemed the memory spell had backfired and he was now completely amnesiac. He had been ushered to St Mungo's and had been in the wizarding hospital ever since. Well, at least this year they would have a decent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"That's awesome Uncle Remus!" she exclaimed. "Wait that means I have to call you Professor Lupin, that's going to be a bit odd…"

The man smiled and led her towards the crimson train.

"We should get on the train if you're still intent on avoiding your parents like the plague." he said. "Also you might want to reserve a compartment unless you want to be stuck with me all through the journey."

Jade rolled her eyes at him.

"I was **planning** to get stuck with you in the first place!" she said reproachfully. "And anyway shouldn't you be the one worrying over being stuck with **me**?"

The man laughed good naturedly as they climbed into the train and started looking for an empty compartment. It wasn't that difficult as they were really early. They decided to go to the far end of the train as they would be closer to the carriages once they arrived. They finally settled for the last compartment. Remus placed their trunks on the luggage racks.

They chatted for a while but soon fell silent. Jade had noticed that her Uncle Remus was looking particularly tired this morning. He dark bags under his eyes and looked like he could collapse any minute.

"Why don't you sleep for a little Uncle Rem…I mean Professor Lupin?" she ended cheekily.

The man snorted at the title but agreed to take a rest. He took his coat off and used it as a cover. It seemed to Jade that he had fallen asleep the moment he had closed his eyes. As waiting wasn't something she was good at, the raven haired girl decided she might as well go for a walk. She silently left the compartment and walked slowly up the train. She encountered a few first years who looked way too excited for their own good and a few other students she had seen before but didn't know personally.

Jade placed herself next to a window to look at the station which was filling with families little by little. It looked like she had a long wait ahead of her.

After waiting for ten minutes at the window Jade had gone back to the compartment. She wasn't good at waiting wherever she was, so she might as well make it as comfortable as possible. She sat back opposite Remus who was definitely sleeping now and looked out the window. The view was rather limited as it was the side opposite the station, so the only thing Jade could see was a brick wall. Not the most fascinating thing in the world. She got bored of examining the wall after less than a minute and turned towards the door instead. She swore she was going to die of boredom if nobody came soon!

* * *

It was Hermione who arrived first, Crookshanks in her arms. Jade introduced Remus in whispers so as to not wake him up, though she didn't say anything about her relations to him or about him being a werewolf. Then the two girls started chatting in low voices, while petting Crookshanks who was surprisingly well-behaved.

Ron and Christopher arrived together. The red haired boy gave a wary glance both to Crookshanks and Professor Lupin but took a seat across from the girls after he had greeted them. Christopher was still standing and hadn't said a word yet.

"Something wrong Chris?" asked Jade worriedly.

Now that she looked at him closely, she could see that his lips were pressed tightly together to the point they were slightly whiter than they should.

"Chris?" she asked again as her brother didn't react.

"I want to talk to you Jade, in private." he said at last, not looking at her in the eye.

The raven haired exchanged a worried glance with Hermione and rose slowly from her seat. She muttered a 'I'll be back soon' to her bushy haired friend and followed her brother out of the compartment.

Her twin led her to the back of the train. They walked silently. Christopher had his back firmly turned to his sister and walked in front of her. Jade was a bit taken aback by his attitude. As twins they had felt the urge to show that they were equals from a young age and it was an unspoken rule between them to walk at the same level as the other. Over time it had become more of a habit than anything; it was a simple yet reassuring gesture they had kept as a symbol of their 'twin-hood'.

At last Christopher stopped and turned back to her. He was still avoiding eye contact and that unnerved Jade greatly. She kept her nasty temper on a leash though, she had to hear what her brother had to say.

"Mum and Dad talked to me after you left." he started.

Jade waited patiently for him to continue but the boy seemed unsure of how to proceed. His eyes were darting all over the place, but never stopping on her face. He shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"What do you know about Sirius Black?" he finally blurted, his brown gaze shooting towards her face at last.

Jade had been expecting him to talk about Black ever since he had said their parents had talked to him so she wasn't surprised upon hearing the question.

"Not much." she replied returning his gaze calmly. "I only know what was in the Daily Prophet. That he's a mass murderer and that he escaped Azkaban."

The answer seemed to satisfy Christopher as he nodded his head. His eyes had left her face and were wandering aimlessly yet again.

"Right." said Christopher quite obviously stalling for time.

"What is it?" asked Jade impatiently, crossing her arms. "What is it that you have to tell me?"

The boy glanced at her quickly before finding a sudden interest in his shoes.

"He's coming after me, to kill me." he murmured.

Christopher's announcement successfully shocked Jade. Her eyes widened until they were the size of saucepans, her arms fell limply to her sides and her jaw fell open. A long moment passed before she was able to speak.

"He wants to kill you? B-but why?"

Just as she asked the question she got the answer. Sirius Black had been a Death Eater; of course he would go after the one who had defeated his master. If he successfully killed the Saviour of the wizarding world then it would be easier to bring back Voldermort, especially since the wizarding world would have lost hope.

"Mum said that you shouldn't try anything concerning Sirius Black." said Christopher instead of replying to his sister's question.

Jade came out of her daze and looked up at her brother.

"What do you mean?" she asked puzzled.

The boy shrugged.

"Christopher is there something you're not telling me?" she asked sternly, frowning. "Because if there is…"

"I DON'T KNOW, OKAY?" Christopher shouted suddenly.

Jade stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her brother uncomprehendingly. The boy seemed ashamed at his outburst and hurriedly looked away.

"Mum and Dad don't tell me everything either." he said angrily. "But **I** don't go breaking windows and leaving the house on a whim! Have you ever thought that there was a reason why people keep secrets from you? Have you ever thought that maybe there is the tiniest possibility that it's better for you not to know things? Have you ever thought of my feelings?" Christopher paused to catch his breath. "I'm going back to the compartment." he said walking passed her without giving his sister so much as a glance.

Jade stayed unmoving for a minute before the astonishment left place to anger. What the hell had that been? Fine, she had been wrong to leave the house, she would even admit that she had broken the window even though it hadn't been on purpose, but how could he blame for wanting to know the truth? Was it so wrong to want answers? And what the hell did he mean "it's better not to know things'? How could it be better?

Jade was fuming. How dare he, when he didn't know half the things that went on in her life since they started Hogwarts. He blamed her for not thinking about his feelings but did he ever think of hers? Of course he didn't, he hadn't noticed her new fear of mirrors, when he had found out by accident he hadn't even cared, had never asked about it. He never noticed that she had nightmares, that she lacked sleep. He never noticed **her**.

Tears started rolling down her cheeks.

What was she to him? Was she just someone who was by his side because it was natural? Because there was no way around it? Did think of her as an extra, a bonus to his person like everybody else did? Who exactly was she supposed to be?

A sob shook her entire body and she slid to the floor. She sat against the wall, hugging her knees against her chest and burying her head in her arms. She let the tears, a mix of rage and sadness, fall profusely.

* * *

Christopher had gotten back to the compartment. He felt a bit guilty for yelling at his sister but she was the one at fault in the first place.

As he sat by Ron's side he noticed the sleeping figure. He probably had been too bothered to see it before. It was a middle aged man with a mousy brown hair and pale skin. His face was only half visible since t was partly covered by the coat he was using as a cover; however it didn't take long for Christopher to recognize the man. After all, Remus Lupin was his godfather.

"Where's Jade?"

That had been Hermione. The bushy haired girl was frowning; she looked really worried about Jade. Christopher had no intention of telling her what had happened. Hermione was after all Jade's friend before she was Christopher's, she would surely think he had been in the wrong. But he hadn't, it was Jade who was at fault not him.

"She'll be back soon." he said neutrally.

The bushy haired girl's eyes narrowed but she didn't comment. Christopher could tell she wasn't satisfied with that answer. They all knew that Jade wasn't the kind to dwell on things, and she certainly wasn't one to hide. That she hadn't come back meant the discussion had gone badly. How badly was the question.

Ron shifted uncomfortably. Given he wasn't the smartest one when it came to reading the one, he would admit that himself but even he could tell the atmosphere was heavy at the moment. He also realized it was weird that Jade hadn't come back with her brother. But well, there was nothing to do about it…

At some point the red haired noticed that a muffled whistle could be heard in the compartment.

"What's that noise?" asked Ron jumping on the distraction.

"I don't know." replied Christopher who was looking up at the luggage rack. "Sounds like it's coming from the suitcases.

The brown haired boy climbed on the seats and rummaged in the suitcase trying to determine which one was the origin of the noise.

"Looks like it's mine." he said after a few seconds.

He opened the suitcase and looked into it. A moment later he fished out the Pocket Sneakoscope Ron had given him for his birthday. It was spinning very fast in the boy's hand and glowing brilliantly while emitting a high pitched whistle.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" asked Hermione suddenly very interested and seeming to have momentarily forgotten about her missing best friend.

"Yeah, mind you it's a cheap one. It went berserk when I was attaching it to Errol's leg along with Jade's." said Ron.

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" asked Hermione suspiciously.

"No, well…I wasn't supposed to use Errol for long journeys…" said the red haired boy.

Hermione gave him a knowing look which he ignored.

"I'll try and muffle the sound a bit or it'll wake him." said Christopher nodding at Remus.

He picked a pair of socks and placed the Sneakoscope inside before shutting the suitcase. The sound couldn't be heard anymore to everyone's relief and Christopher took back his seat.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade." suggested Ron to keep the conversation going. "According to Fred and George they sell that kind of things in Dervish and Bangs, magical instruments and stuff."

"Do you know a lot about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione very interested. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Great Britain…"

"Yeah, I think it is." said Ron offhandedly. "But that's not why I want to go, I want to go to Honeydukes, the sweetshop."

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place isn't it?" insisted Hermione. "In _Sites of Historical Sorcery_ it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 Goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain." seeing that Ron wasn't listening to her at all she turned to Christopher for support. "Won't it be nice to go and explore Hogsmeade?"

"I suppose, so." said Christopher. "I won't be able to go though, my parents refused to sign the form, with Sirius Black coming after me and all…"

"You can't come?"

"Sirius Black is coming after you?" asked Ron and Hermione simultaneously.

"Yeah." replied Christopher heavily to both questions.

"What about…" Jade's name was about to come out of Hermione's mouth when the compartment's door flung open.

Malfoy and his cronies, Goyle and Crabbe entered the compartment. The blonde looked as smug as ever as his gaze scanned the various inhabitants of the room. Hermione thought she saw a vague disappointment in the blonde's eyes when he had finished his inspection but she couldn't be sure.

"So Weasel, I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold." he drawled. "Did your mother die of shock?"

Ron jumped up but was saved the trouble of retaliating by Remus who gave a snort from his corner.

"Who's that?" asked Malfoy automatically stepping back.

"The new teacher, Professor Lupin." replied Christopher coldly. "Maybe you should leave unless you want to get a detention before school even starts. Mind you, you might break a record."

Christopher talking back surprised everybody. The blonde's eyes narrowed.

"I see you finally stopped hiding behind your sister and got some backbone, Potty." said the Slytherin with a sneer. "But you're not quite as good as her yet. You'll want to work on it."

Christopher scowled as Malfoy gracefully turned on his heels and left. The blonde's departure left silence hanging in the compartment.

* * *

The plump witch with the food trolley came by at one o' clock sharp. As the boys ate their Cauldron Cakes, Hermione started fidgeting.

"Are you sure Jade's alright?" she kept asking. "She's been gone for nearly an hour and a half!"

Neither boys knew what to say. Christopher was getting more and more uncomfortable every time the bushy haired girl asked about his sister. Yet, stronger than the worry was the anger. Why did everybody only care for Jade even when she wasn't there? It just wasn't fair! He had felt quite contented to talk with Ron and Hermione without Jade getting in the way.

"Is it just me, or is the train stopping?" asked Hermione suddenly.

The train was indeed slowing down as if it was getting ready to stop.

"Maybe we've arrived." said Ron uncertainly.

Hermione shook her head.

"No we shouldn't get there for another hour at least." she said.

As the train came to a stop, the air got colder and the three Gryffindors shivered. Then without warning all the lamps were extinguished.

"What…what's going on?" asked Ron panicking.

"I don't know." replied Christopher who was trying to keep his voice from wavering.

They heard the sound of the door opening.

"Who's there?" asked Hermione in an unnaturally high voice.

"I-It's me Neville, OUCH!" the boy's voice was followed by a loud THUMP.

"Hello, Neville." said Christopher.

"Christopher, is that you?" asked the boy seemingly relieved. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." replied Christopher. "Sit down."

A second later, a loud mew was heard followed by an angry hiss: Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks. Soon the door opened again.

"Who's that?"

"Who's _that_?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What's going on?"

"I don't know, sit down."

"Not here." said Christopher hurriedly. "I'm here."

"Ouch!" said Neville.

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice.

"Uncle Rem…I mean Professor Lupin, you've woken up!" said Christopher, relief evident in his voice.

"Yes well it was hard not to." groaned the man. "Jade?"

No answer came.

"Jade? Where's Jade?" asked the man with rising panic.

"She's not there." said Hermione. "She went to talk to Christopher and never came back." her tone was accusing and Christopher was glad for the darkness as he could feel himself blush.

There was a crackle and a soft shimmering light appeared in the corner of the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. It illuminated his slightly greyish face and tired eyes.

"Stay here." he said in the same hoarse voice and made his way towards the door.

Before he could reach it, a shrill cry reached their ears.


	4. Chapter 4

**KGC112:**** Yes I also thought that Remus was probably the one who was the fairest out of them all, not that it was hard ^^. Oh, and yeah, I do think Jade overreacted but I needed her to leave the house, and I thought that with the built up pressure of not being told anything when you know it's important and then being refused something you really wanted…well maybe it's okay to overreact in those cases, right? And I really needed her to leave the house so…**

**And about the wall, you can do amazing things when you're desperate…I didn't think of opening doors just to annoy people, but it wouldn't have worked anyway because the train was practically empty.**

**Just Another Aceves:**** Hello, welcome to the world of reviewers! **

**Yes you're right Christopher is indeed despicable in this chapter (not even close, but oh well…). Your wish will come true in this chapter, kind of anyway. And I swear I wrote the chapter (half of it) before reading your review. Now what I'm really interested in is…your eye colour? Sorry wrong one, what I'm interested in, is what exactly you don't like about Hermione so I can consider changing her with Jade's influence. I'm not sure what you don't like, so I don't know what to correct in her. Is it her bookwormness? Her haughtiness?**

* * *

Jade didn't really know how long she had been sitting there. She couldn't remember when the tears had stopped falling. She didn't really care. Right now, she couldn't fathom the thought of moving let alone go back to the compartment with the others. To keep turning over her brother's words and all the negative things she could think about him had left Jade limp. She was feeling empty as she always did when she a fight with Christopher. This time was different however, they weren't fighting a broken toy or who would eat the last piece of cake. These could be resolved by James mending the toys or Lily suggesting they share the piece of cake. This time it was fight that involved the very nature of their relationship.

Knowingly or unknowingly, Christopher had questioned the founding of their beings. Twins were different from other children in many ways, but the biggest difference was the way they built their lives and personalities. Twins shared everything from the moment of their birth. If they grew up building a close relationship it would at some point become completely natural for them to be together. They would refer automatically to themselves, not as 'I' but as 'we' and it would be utterly unthinkable for them not to be together.

That was how it had been for Jade and Christopher. But by saying that she didn't care about his feelings and by making it clearer than day that he didn't care about hers, Christopher had completely destroyed their bond. If they weren't close twins, like Fred and George were, if they weren't two halves of the same person, then who were they? If they weren't one of the twins but a person by themselves how were they supposed to act? How were they even supposed to be living?

Little by little Jade had seen all her beliefs destroyed. And little by little the unfathomable had become the only perspective for the future. She couldn't be Christopher's other half, so she would have to learn to be a person by herself. Maybe ultimately that was the difference between 'real' twins like Fred and George and 'fake' twins like her and Christopher. Maybe if they had been identical they could have shared their lives…

The next internal problem Jade had to face was how she was supposed to consider her brother if she stopped thinking of him as her other half. Didn't that take all of his value as a twin away? Was he just her brother? Was he a stranger? She remembered that saying: siblings are you closest strangers. She had just it didn't apply to twins, she had thought she knew Christopher as well as she knew herself. Clearly she didn't. Christopher had indeed become her closest stranger. If she wanted him to be more than a stranger then they would have to stop being siblings. They would have to stop considering they knew everything about each other just because they had lived together all their lives. They would have to start off as acquaintances and then perhaps they would be friends…

Did Christopher realize all of this? Did he understand exactly how much weight his words had? Or had he just said it on a whim without thinking of the impact it would have?

She would have to talk to him. He needed to understand as well. They couldn't start over if they didn't both initiate the change. In that way they were still bonded. It was a bond that was made to be destroyed. But it was the only way. From where they stood now, it was the only path possible. Jade understood that and because she wasn't good at not doing anything, she would make sure she moved forward even if that meant she needed to destroy everything she had built so far.

Her resolve finally made, Jade got up with the intention of joining her friends in their compartment. It was then she realized that the train had stopped. Everything was still and the silence was absolute. A shiver ran through her spine. When had the temperature dropped? She rubbed her arms in an attempt to make them warm. Suddenly the lamps went off and Jade was left in the dark. Her Gryffindor courage was starting to waver. She didn't know where to go. It was dark, cold and the silence was creepy. Moreover she was just recovering from an emotional breakdown. Did people up there have no decency?

Well at least she had her sense of humour back, so she supposed it meant she was on a good way to full recovery. A door on her right banged open. Jade jumped, her thoughts racing madly in her head. That door, wasn't it leading outside? Who was coming in? Was it Sirius Black?

Feeble light entered the train through the open door and Jade could see dark cloaked figures entering. The temperature had dropped again and her teeth starting shattering. As the cloaked figures streamed inside, Jade started feeling sad. The sense of humour she had regained just seconds ago was gone and she felt like she would never get it back. It felt like her heart had frozen over, like all the happiness she had ever felt was leaving her, like all the happiness in the world had disappeared.

The cloaked figure approached her and images she had banned in the furthest corner of her mind resurfaced. _She watched at her brother sleeping peacefully in the next bed. The door opened and He entered. Green light flashed through the room and hit her brother. And she couldn't stop looking, couldn't turn away._

_She was seeing herself in the mirror and all she could see were her eyes, and the green light flashing brightly in front of her eyes. Flashing endlessly. Hitting her brother. And the screams. The terrified screams. Cold, so cold. Scary. The green light…_

* * *

Remus had rushed out and ran in the direction of Jade's screams. He knew it was her. He didn't know how, but he knew. His blood ran cold as he spotted the dark cloaked figures hovering over the raven haired girl. Dementors. He raised his wand.

"_Expecto Patronum._" he bellowed.

A silver wolf erupted from his wand and charged at the Dementors. The cloaked creatures hesitated for a moment but soon retreated under the furious assaults of the Patronus. As soon as the creatures were gone, the lights went back on and the temperature turned back to normal. Lupin hurried to Jade's side.

The girl was sprawled on the floor, her face ashen. She had passed out it seemed. The effect on her must have pretty bad. It was strange. Generally, it only happened to people who had very bad memories and few good ones. But surely, Jade must have loads of good ones. James and Lily were loving parents and she had always gotten along with her twin…But she had had a discussion with him and had never come back. Could this have been the reason. But even then, the discussion must have been pretty bad for the Dementors to have such an effect. And what kind of memories could have made her faint? He would have to ask her but for now he had to wake her up. Make sure she was fine.

The man started slapping her cheeks.

"Jade!" he called. "Jade!"

The girl's eyes fluttered open.

"Uncle Remus?" she asked groggily. "That you?"

"Yeah, it's me pup. Are you alright?" asked the professor with great relief.

He watched as the young girl opened her eyes completely. Jade moved her head a little, then her arms, finally she sat up though with some difficulties.

"What happened?" she asked looking up at her Uncle Remus with puzzlement.

"Dementors came in." explained the werewolf. "You know what Dementors are, right?"

Jade stopped to consider it, then shook her head.

"Dementors are creatures who feed on your happy feelings." said the man. "By the time they've finished feeding there's nothing left but bad memories and sadness. They're the guardians of Azkaban."

Jade stayed silent for a minute, giving time to the information to reach her brain.

"Why were they here?" she asked.

Remus shrugged.

"Most likely looking for Sirius Black."

Jade took her time to register the information once again.

"How…How did you make them leave?"

The man peered at her ashen face.

"That's a story for another time. For now you need to eat some chocolate." he announced getting up and reaching a hand to help her.

Jade didn't bother asking why she needed to eat chocolate. Right now she felt weak and was quite content to let someone else be in charge.

She grabbed the man's hand and let him pull her up. She followed him back to the compartment. She sat down when he told her to sit down, and she ignored everyone else when the teacher started rummaging in his trunk. Her thoughts were beginning to work properly now and she was starting to remember what had happened.

"Here." she looked up at Remus to see him giving her a Chocolate Frog.

She took the sweet with a murmured 'thank you' and started munching it slowly. Her fellow Gryffindor students sat silently around her. Jade was rather surprised when she felt warmth spread all over her body. She was a bit more enthusiastic about eating the chocolate and finished it quickly. Colour was coming back in her cheeks and it looked like she was looking generally better if she was to trust Remus' approving look.

"We'll be here soon." said the werewolf breaking the silence at last.

"Right, I can't wait for the feast." said Jade. "Do you think there will lemon pies for dessert?"

The werewolf chuckled.

"Do you really think it's healthy for you to eat that many lemon pies?" he asked.

Jade shrugged.

"Who cares about healthy as long as I don't get fat." she said arrogantly.

She continued her amicable banter with the werewolf until they reached Hogwarts station. By the time the train had stopped she had managed to make all the other students laugh save Christopher.

* * *

As they were walking towards the carriages, Neville, Ron and Christopher in the lead, Hermione, Jade and Ginny following a little distance away, Jade noticed the same tall cloaked figures she had seen in the train on either side of the path. Starting to feel a little sick, Jade climbed into the nearest carriage with Ginny and Hermione, while the boys went in another. The raven haired girl closed her eyes as the carriage departed, trying to shut off the dreaded vision of Dementors. Once the uncomfortable cold disappeared she opened her eyes again.

It wasn't long until the carriage stopped in front of the castle's door. Ginny and Hermione got to their feet. Jade followed a little slower. As the raven haired Gryffindor jumped out of the carriage, a delighted drawl sounded in her ear.

"You _fainted_ Potter?" asked Draco Malfoy. "Is Longbottom telling the truth? Did you actually faint?"

Jade groaned internally. Just what she needed! With a heavy sigh she turned around to face the blond and gave him an aggravated look.

"I didn't faint." she said slowly as if she talking to a little kid. "I was just taking a nap when the Dementors disturbed me."

"Did the great big Dementor _scare_ you Potter?" continued the blonde almost gleefully.

"Is there something wrong?" said a hoarse voice behind them.

The two students turned around to see Professor Lupin getting out of a carriage. Malfoy scowled but retreated without another word. Jade gave the man a grateful smile and ran to catch up with Ginny and Hermione. The three girls made their way up to the castle, chatting as they went. When they arrived in the Entrance Hall, they saw Professor McGonagall hurrying towards them.

"Granger, Potter!" she called. "I want to see you both."

The two girls nodded and made to follow the teacher. Ginny was lingering not knowing what to do.

"You can go to the feast Weasley. Granger and Potter will join you in a minute." said Professor McGonagall dismissing the younger student.

Ginny gave her two friends a 'see you later' kind of smile and trotted off towards the Great Hall. The elder woman ushered her two students out of the Entrance Hall filled with a chattering crowd and led up the stairs and into a corridor. Once they were in her office, she motioned them to sit down.

"Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say you were taken ill on the train, Potter." said the Transfiguration teacher abruptly.

Before Jade could reply, there was a knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey walked in. The raven haired girl barely refrained from rolling her eyes at her Head of House. Really, they were treating her like an injured of war!

"I'm fine." she said hastily.

"Oh, it's you is it?" asked Madam Pomfrey in a tone that meant Jade was a regular. "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"

This time Jade did roll her eyes at the witch.

"I was attacked by a Dementor." she said a bit snappily.

The nurse huffed indignantly.

"Setting Dementors around the school." she said pushing away Jade's hair to take her temperature. "She won't be the first one who collapses. Yes, she's all clammy. Terrible things they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate…"

"I'm not delicate." protested Jade vehemently.

"Of course you not." said Madam Pomfrey absent-mindedly as she took the raven haired girl's wrist to take her pulse.

"What does she need?" asked Professor McGonagall. "Bed rest? Should she perhaps stay the night in the Hospital Wing?"

"I'm fine." assured Jade with rising panic. "I don't need to go to the Hospital Wing. I'll go to the feast!"

Of course she was going to the feast! She had already missed the lemon pies in her first year she wasn't to miss them again, especially since she hadn't been able to enjoy the Welcoming Feast the previous year because her brother had been missing then. Oh yeah, Christopher…

"Well, she should at least have some chocolate." said Madam Pomfrey who had finally finished her examinations.

"I already had some." said Jade promptly to the nurse's surprise. "Uncle Rem…I mean Professor Lupin gave me some."

"Well, it looks like we finally have a competent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." said Madam Pomfrey approvingly.

"Are you sure you feel alright, Potter?" asked Professor McGonagall crisply.

Jade nodded her head fervently. The elder witch peered at her student over her glasses for a few seconds as if she was trying to ascertain that the girl wasn't lying.

"Very well, in that case kindly wait outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her timetable." said the headmistress.

Jade was all too happy to leave the room, though she was less happy with the 'wait' part. She wanted to hurry up and go to the feast before there weren't any lemon pies left. Thankfully, Hermione didn't take too long and Jade was soon trotting away happily towards the lemon pies…the Great Hall.

Before they reached the Great Hall though, Hermione grabbed Jade's arm to stop her. The raven haired girl looked at her friend in surprise.

"What is it?" she asked with worried curiosity.

The bushy haired girl's lips were presses tightly together and she glared daggers at Jade upon hearing the question.

"You didn't really think I was just going to let it go, did you?" she asked. "What happened with Christopher? Why didn't you come back with him?"

Jade's face fell. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but no sound came out. She looked to the floor and closed her mouth.

"I'll tell you, I swear I will." she said quietly. "Just not now." she raised her eyes to her friend's face gaining assurance. "I need to get a few things straight with Chris, first. That will possibly…change our relationship. I know **I'm** going to change. I'll need you then Hermione."

The bushy haired girl stared at her intently for a moment before smiling.

"All right. Tell me when you're ready to talk." she said releasing Jade's arm.

The raven haired girl returned the smile and turned on her heels and started skipping towards the Great hall.

"Come on, Mione. We need to get there before they eat everything." she called back happily.

The bushy haired girl chuckled and followed after her friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm really sorry I took so long to write this chapter (plus I don't think it has ever been so short!) but with exams, my websites, and everything else, I didn't write for a while. But here it is at last! I don't know when the next will be though…**

**Her Knightship:**** Indeed, I did read the books…about fifty times each….^^**

**Chef's Special:**** I will not give up on Jade/Draco but it's highly possible that Jade will have a crush on someone else, like every teenage girl except me. Also I was thinking of someone having a crush on Jade, unfortunately it will be unrequited. How sad -_- I won't tell you who though, so as to not take all the fun out of it ^^ **

**KGC112 :**** Thanks for correcting my spelling mistake ^^ About Jade changing, it is a necessity for her to…well, to keep on living. As you said Christopher broke their bond. Because that bond was the base of her being, the thing she grew up relying on, it has become impossible for Jade to continue living without it if she doesn't change somehow. Same for Christopher. It's not a matter of caring deeply anymore. She's doing it for herself as much as she is doing it for her brother.**

**Just Another Aceves:**** Brown eyes how lovely! I'll tell you mine: it's blue. But don't tell anyone it's confidential…^^**

**Well it is true that Hermione's bossiness and haughtiness and overwhelming respect for old folks is what makes her Hermione. But I'm sure she has a chance to evolve and mature by staying near Jade. Even if I say that I'm not sure I'll actually be able to change her without making her completely un-Hermioneish but I'll try.**

**Impstar:**** You have quite a way with words! (in a good way) It is true that Chris just blurted what he was thinking, you're such a perceptive person ^^ Anyway, thank you for your reviews and I hope you will write more of them.**

**Georgia:**** Thank you to you as well, I'm glad you like this story and I hope the next chapters won't disappoint you!**

* * *

Breaking a bond was harder than expected. This was what Jade found out during the next few days following the first of September. Ever since their discussion on the train, the twins hadn't talked. Actually, saying they hadn't talked was optimist. In fact, they hadn't so much as looked at each other, at least not without the other knowing. Jade would the first to admit that she had been distant with her brother. She had meant to talk to him but every time she tried she found a convenient excuse to do it later. She was lucid enough to know the reason for her own reluctance. She was desperately clinging to the remains of her relationship with Christopher, even though it was already crumbling and falling apart she still hung on the hope that everything was just a bad dream and that they would be going back to normal at any moment. But that was wishful thinking and she knew it.

During the week after the welcoming feast, the twins grew apart and as a result the quartet was divided. It was like it had been when they had first come to Hogwarts, Hermione and Jade on one side and Ron and Christopher on the other. The separation made it quite clear that it had been the twins keeping the quartet together. With the end of their twin's relationship the quartet had no reason to exist.

Hermione hadn't asked about the train incident again, but Jade knew that the bushy haired girl hadn't forgotten. She was simply waiting for her green eyed girl to take the first step. However as things were going, the time wouldn't come anytime soon.

The situation was starting to wear on Jade, though. She realized that she would have to act soon unless she wanted to fall ill because of it. Her appetite was alive and kicking but sleep was another matter. It had deserted her. She could now call herself an insomniac, though she didn't take any pride in it. Her nightmares which had deemed in the last months had come back. This time they were accompanied by other nightmares all of which included Christopher. She had already stopped counting the times she had seen Christopher die with a flash of green light. She had also stopped counting the number of times she had seen her twin turn his back on her. She had thought of asking Madam Pomfrey for Dreamless Sleep Potion, but she wasn't sure she could find a satisfying excuse for needing the Potion.

On a happier note, she had learnt during the welcoming feast that Hagrid had been promoted to being Care of Magical Creatures' teacher. The half giant had been very overjoyed. Jade had made sure to congratulate him. Remus had also been introduced as the new professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

It was now Thursday and the raven haired girl's timetable indicated that she was to have her first class with Professor Lupin. She had been looking forward to it. It was to be her first worthy Defence Against the Dark Arts class and she could only wonder what it would be like.

"I wonder what we're going to do." she told Hermione as the two girls made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"What? Oh yeah."

Surprised by her friend's absent tone, Jade gave her questioning look. The girl didn't appear to notice. She did look rather out of it this morning. She had been for a few days. She looked tired too. Her skin was paler than usual and she had dark bags under her eyes.

"Hermione, are you alright?" asked the raven haired girl.

Hermione blinked.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" she said shaking her head as she entered the classroom.

Jade followed her inside frowning.

"Good morning." said Professor Lupin as he entered the class in his usual tatty robes.

He placed an old briefcase on his desk and faced the class.

"Would you please put your books away? Today will be a practical lesson. You will need your wands." said the man catching the class' attention.

The students exchanged curious looks and started putting the books back in their bags.

"Is everyone ready? Then follow me."

The students assembled behind the teacher and followed him out of the classroom. Jade and Hermione walked side by side as the group went down the stairs. The two girls were silent, though all the other students were chatting loudly. As the group reached the bottom of the stairs, Peeves came flying towards them and started stuffing gum in the nearest keyhole.

"Loony, loopy Lupin." sang the ghost. "Loony, loopy, Lupin. Loony, loopy, Lupin."

It was quite a surprise for the students as Peeved, rude and unmanageable as he was, usually showed some respect to the teachers. They all waited to see how Professor Lupin would take it. Surprising everybody, the man smiled good-naturedly. He took out his wand and pointed it at the noisy poltergeist.

"This is a useful little spell." he told the class. "Please watch closely."

He raised the wand to shoulder height and said '_Waddiwasi_'. The gum shot out of the keyhole and stuck itself in Peeves nose at lightning speed. The ghost flew away cursing loudly, accompanied by the class' laughter. Once the general hilarity had subdued, the class set off again. Professor Lupin led them down a corridor and into the Staff Room.

"Leave the door open, Lupin." drawled Snape who was sitting there. "I'd rather not witness this."

With those grand words the Potions Master made a grand exit to match his words, shutting the door behind him. Professor Lupin stared after him in what seemed to be stunned silence, but then you could never be too sure with Remus. A loud rattle coming from a nearby wardrobe startled the class and brought the teacher's attention back to his lesson. With a smile, that one would qualify as cheeky if the person in question hadn't been a teacher, the werewolf went to stand by the wardrobe.

"What's inside, Sir?" asked Dean who didn't look reassured by the loud rattles coming from the piece of furniture.

"A Boggart." replied Professor Lupin causing a few people in the front row to step away from the wardrobe at once. "Now, can someone tell me what a Boggart is?"

Unsurprisingly, Hermione's arm shot in the air before anyone else could react. Jade smiled indulgently at her friend's antics. It was nice to see that some things would never change. This thread of thought made her give a quick nostalgic glance at her brother. Fortunately or unfortunately the boy was facing at front and didn't catch her glance.

"It's a shapeshifter."

Hermione's voice brought the green-eyed girl back to attention.

"It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself." agreed Professor Lupin beaming, causing the bushy haired girl to blush slightly at the praise. "So, the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not assumed a form yet. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door the most. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become what each of us most fear. And that gives us a huge advantage." he paused. "Does anyone know why?"

Of course, Hermione was already ready to answer by the time Jade decided she might as well give it a go. By some miracle, Professor Lupin decided to wait a little before interrogating Hermione and thus gave Jade the chance to answer.

"Because there is a lot of us, he won't know which form he should assume." she said.

"Exactly." said the werewolf smiling at her.

She returned the smile a bit timidly.

"It's always best to have company when dealing with a Boggart. That way you can confuse him as he doesn't know which form to assume. The charm to repel a Boggart is quite simple. You see what really finishes a Boggart is laughing. Therefore you have to imagine your fear becoming funny and say _Riddikulus_. We'll practice the charm without wands first…after me. _Riddikulus_."

"_Riddikulus_." chanted the class.

As she repeated the charm along with the class, Jade started thinking of her own fear. What could it be? She supposed mirrors were a good candidate. But she didn't really fear them did she? She just hated them. Perhaps the _Avada Kedavra_…but the raven haired girl didn't know whether a Boggart could turn into green light…Cockroaches then. Probably not that either, they were just disgusting. Ah! There was something pretty scary though! Leeches! Just seeing the shape of it in her plate made her shiver.

"On the count of three Neville!"

The teacher's voice caught Jade's attention and she noticed that class had enlarged into a circle around Neville who was standing in front of the wardrobe. Professor Lupin was standing by its side, apparently ready to open the door.

"One, two , three!"

The man opened the door and stepped back quickly. A menacing Professor Snape came out and glared dangerously at Neville. 'No wonder' was Jade's only thought at Neville's surprising 'worst fear ever'. The boy was positively terrified and stepped back a little.

"R-_Riddikulus_!" he squeaked at last, his wand shaking.

With a noise like a whip-crack, Snape stumbled and found himself wearing a long lace-trimmed dress, a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture and a bright red handbag. The class erupted with laughter and even Neville managed to giggle a little. Despite looking terrified that he would get scolded for it.

"Parvati! Forward!" shouted Professor Lupin.

The girl stepped forward and the confused Boggart changed into a zombie. Parvati cast the spell and the zombie's bandages started unravelling. As soon the Boggart started getting confused by the shouts of laughter, the next student was called forward. It went on and on until Jade's name was called, surprisingly before her brother's.

The raven haired girl stepped in the middle of the circle and the Boggart started changing. A perfect double of Jade appeared in front of her, except it was wearing a terrifying smile and had a general evil look. Jade raised her wand, rather tensed. However, before she could cast the charm, the second Jade changed to a black shadow which oddly resembled…'A dementor' thought Jade as she started to feel weak.

_Green light everywhere. Christopher sleeping. Green eyes in the mirror. Christopher leaving her behind. Green light…_

She was shoved aside and a second later she heard the teacher's firm voice.

"_Riddikulus_."

Jade didn't see what happened all she knew was that, whispers erupted from around her and Remus came to crouch by her side.

"Here eat some of this." said the man gently, holding out a chocolate tablet.

"Thanks." muttered the green eyed teen taking the chocolate.

Hermione came to crouch by her side looking worried.

"Are you alright?" asked the bushy haired girl softly.

Jade nodded her head as she munched her chocolate slowly. Warmth was spreading throughout her body and she was starting to feel more like herself again. She gave her friend a weak smile and got to her feet slowly. Professor Lupin was watching her every move attentively, as was the rest of the class. Jade tried to her best to ignore the attention, in vain. As she was starting to consider making a run for it, the bell rang and the students started to talk rather noisily again. Relief washed over Jade…for about five seconds, for as her wandered towards the door, she met Christopher's eyes. Her wandering gaze froze on the boy. Her twin's face was devoid of emotions and he met her gaze steadily. Then all of a sudden he turned away as if he couldn't be bothered with her. The raven haired girl had to restrain her anger at her brother's attitude. He could at least pretend to be worried! The git!

"Jade, maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing." said Hermione who hadn't stopped watching her with a worried frown.

Jade turned back to look at her friend and smiled reassuringly.

"I feel fine, Mione." she told the bushy haired girl. "Really." she added seeing the other girl's doubtful look.

"Well, if you feel fine…"

Hermione still sounded very doubtful but she didn't insist anymore. With a last glance to the raven haired girl Professor Lupin walked to the door, announcing they were going back to the classroom to get their bags. The mass of students following him closely he left the room and started walking towards his classroom.

Jade and Hermione followed the group. The bushy haired girl was watching Jade like a hawk waiting for its prey to waver. Jade wisely decided to let her worry all she wanted. She knew that Hermione wouldn't listen to anything she said anyway. So the duo walked silently, back to class, and off again to their next lesson.

* * *

In no time Remus Lupin had become everybody's favourite teacher. Jade was glad that her surrogate godfather was doing so well. The man had also managed to keep his secret well hidden and nobody suspected him of being anything but a normal human being. All in all Remus had been accepted. There was only the gang of Slytherins led by the infamous Draco Malfoy who still treated the Defence teacher badly. It was mostly talk about the way the man dressed. Remus had worn out robes, sometimes even patched. But that was only because before he came to Hogwarts he hardly ever fund work because of his condition. Of course, Jade couldn't tell them that so following Remus' example she kept quiet and lived with it.

A part from Madboy and Co, there was another person who seemed to dedicate his being to hating Remus Lupin. The story of the Boggart turning into Severus Snape had been quite the topic and made its way around the school in no time. Of course, the joke hadn't been to the Potions Master's taste at all. The greasy haired man was in an even worse mood than usual and glared daggers at Remus whenever they met. This troubled Jade. First, her mistakes in Potions were more severely punished, but she was also aware that Snape made the Wolfsbane Potion for Remus; therefore he was holding the Defence teacher's lifeline. She just hoped Snape wouldn't be sour enough to tamper with Wolfsbane.

Between Remus and Snape, Jade managed to keep herself in relatively high spirits. She still hadn't talked to Christopher as she felt very reluctant after the Boggart episode. However, she had talked with Hermione. The two girls had stayed up late discussing the fight. It had helped the raven haired girl quite a lot to talk about it with someone.

Life continued in this manner for a few weeks, peaceful and uneventful. Jade was starting to think she would enjoy spending all her ears so peacefully. Compared to fighting Voldermort or a Basilisk, having a fight with Christopher seemed very easy to live with. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to stay that way. At the start of October two things happened. Oliver Wood gathered his team for a very serious speech about this year being the last year to win the Cup (at least for him) and Halloween arrived with its load of scary and unwanted events.


	6. Chapter 6

**kawaiigrlmari: ****Truthfully I'm a bit confused about it myself ^^ I was thinking about how to make it work without it being completely absurd and Merlin is it hard! But I'll manage somehow and impress everybody with my genius! Just joking, most likely I'll find an extremely stupid reason as I would…Anyway…I'll do my best.**

**Guest:**** So you noticed that too? When I first started this series I was trying not to make the cliché irresponsible family that doesn't love the extra child. Did I fail? -_-**

**I'd be grateful if you could tell me if I'm going towards the cliché too much and how, so that I can try and improve it in the future since I'd like to avoid it as much as possible.**

**Son of Whitebeard:**** Actually I thought it was strange that Harry wasn't closer to Remus seeing as he was one his dad's best friends…**

**Impstar:**** Well, Christopher is a bit of a mystery even to me at times ^^, but I'd say your answer is fairly close to the truth if not completely.**

**Thanks again to all my readers, followers and all those who have favorited this story, and of course to my reviewers, as well. I have to apologise for not updating a lot and for the last chapters that I honestly wasn't impressed with…I took a few month break as you would have noticed, and I hope that the break will be beneficial to my writing ability and that the next chapters will be better. If they're not you're allowed to protest, criticize, go on strike, etc…I'd love feedback, to know if there's anything I should improve.**

* * *

On a fair morning of October, as little birds peacefully sang in the branches of tree still full of green leaves….How delightful it would be if the day had really started that way. Unfortunately, life was NOT a fairy tale, and as Jade well knew, things only started in a nice way in fictional stories. So on this cold October morning, she was walking down to the Quidditch pitch after being woken at indecent hours of the morning (on a Saturday, too! Had people no respect anymore?), her gloved hands tucked in the pockets of her warm coat and white smoke forming every time her breath escaped her lips. Cursed be Oliver Wood; thought Jade as a violent gust of wind blew in her face, leaving her trembling and her teeth chattering from the sudden cold. With every passing SECOND, the raven haired girl was more convinced that Oliver Wood was in fact a Quidditch-obsessed demon, to whom compassion was a foreign concept.

After yet another gust of wind made her hair fly out of her Gryffindor scarf and left her teeth chattering even louder, the young witch quickened her pace. She trotted towards the training rooms, nearly launching herself at the door when she reached it. She entered the room, pushing the door shut behind her, and let herself relax in the warmth with the expression of a Templar who had just found the Holy Grail.

"Finally!" said Oliver's slightly impatient voice.

Jade would have no doubt given him a piece of her mind concerning the way he disregarded an individual's sleep, had he been anyone else. However, he was Oliver Wood, and though every Gryffindor including the Quidditch Captain remembered that Jade Potter was not to be messed with, Oliver Wood was an authority and Jade wasn't too keen on arguing with him at the moment. Thus, she silently went to stand beside her teammates. As she stopped next to Angelina, she observed the disposition of the team. The Captain was standing with his back to the door, facing his team, members of which were obediently standing in line, facing him. The air rippled with seriousness and Jade was reminded of a movie her mom had brought her too. She couldn't remember the story line anymore but she did recall the one scene where the soldiers had assembled in a similar fashion as her and her teammates in front of the squadron's Captain, all solemn looking and rigid as a brick wall. And it was solemn looking and rigid as a brick wall that Captain Wood started his grand speech.

"Men," he started.

"And women." said Katie Bell.

"And women." agreed Wood. "This year is our last year. MY last year at least, my very last chance to win the House Cup. It should have been ours for a few years now, we've got awesome Chasers, uneatable Beaters, a genius Seeker…and me." the last part was said as an after-thought as if he didn't believe himself to be more than an average player.

"We think you're great too, Oliver." said Fred with a kindness he rarely showed.

"Cracking Keeper!" added George.

The twins were devilish pranksters and though they were never unkind, they weren't ones for displays of affection and liked teasing more than flattering. However, Jade had noticed the two red-haired had a great deal of affection and respect for their team Captain and Wood was rarely subjected to their embarrassing pranks.

Oliver gave a grateful smile to Fred, before continuing his speech.

"Anyway, for various reasons…" at that he glanced at Jade and a depressed sadness filled his expression, causing the raven haired girl to feel slightly guilty. "…we haven't been able to win that Cup. But this year, we will! We'll train harder than ever before and win all our matches!"

Oliver was alight with feverish determination, and his words held an authority that none of them would have dared contest. Despite the excitement growing inside her, given to her by Oliver's words, she felt a little worried. Anyone would be, or rather they all did. The comment about 'training harder than ever before' had not gone unnoticed and the team dreaded the training program that would no doubt be given to them by the end of the meeting. Jade sighed internally. That was it, she could say goodbye to her beauty sleep. Knowing Oliver they would be out at dawn every day.

The next twenty minutes confirmed Jade's worries: she wouldn't be sleeping in until the House Cup was in their hands. Oddly enough the raven haired witch wasn't too depressed by the announcements. After all, she was also determined to win the Cup. In fact, she felt such enthusiasm about the whole thing that she had to wonder if she was a Quidditch maniac like Wood. Thankfully she didn't have time to ponder on this matter, for the Captain ended the meeting by telling them to change so that they could start training.

Putting everything other than Quidditch at the back of her mind, Jade bounced after Angelina, Katie and Alicia, out of the boys' changing room and into the girls'. The four girls didn't take long to change, partly because they were impatient to start and partly because it was too cold, despite the heating, to stay unclothed for long.

Training was intense that day, and it continued in the same way three times a week, thanks to the team's determination.

* * *

As Jade came back from training one evening, completely knackered and soaked from the drizzle, yet very excited and pleased with the training session, she found the Gryffindor common room buzzing with anticipation that had nothing to do with Quidditch. As she walked over to where Hermione sat, the raven haired girl looked around at the excited faces of her fellow Gryffindors.

"What's going on?" she asked her bushy haired friend, throwing herself, quite ungracefully, on a sofa opposite the other girl.

"First Hogsmeade week-end." replied Hermione looking up from her book. "End of October. Halloween."

"Excellent!" said Fred who had followed Jade inside, along with his twin. "I need to visit Zonko's. I need to refill my stock of Stinking Pellets."

His brother nodded enthusiastically, adding other goods to the list of what they needed from the jokes' shop. Detaching herself from the twins' conversation, Jade sank lower into the sofa. She had blissfully forgotten about Hogsmeade since the year had started. And conveniently she had also forgotten about the whole reason for her squabble with her parents which now seemed impossibly childish to her, even though she was still very upset that she wasn't allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Her disappointment was noticed immediately by Hermione.

"What's up Jade?" asked the girl, while absent-mindedly scratching her ginger cat behind the ears.

"I'm not allowed to go." replied the raven haired girl sourly. "My parents refused to sign the form."

"Oh…" said the bushy haired girl.

Hermione looked surprised for a moment. She probably hadn't expected that the Potter's wouldn't let their daughter go to the wizarding village.

"Christopher's not allowed to go either." said Jade, reading the question on her friend's expression.

Fred and George looked at her sympathetically.

"You could ask McGonagall to let you go." suggested Fred. "The next one might not come for ages."

"She's supposed to stay _inside_ the school." said Hermione rather stiffly.

She glared at Fred who, surprisingly, glared back. Their glaring contest lasted a few minutes and normally Jade would have been shocked by it. Not that she was surprised the two disagreed on something they often did, especially when it concerned school rules, but she wouldn't have thought that Fred would actually argue with Hermione, even silently. However in the present moment, Jade was busy thinking darkly and had no attention to spare to the red-haired's unusual behaviour.

"Yeah, I think I will." sighed Jade causing Fred to smile triumphantly.

Hermione gave her a shocked look.

"I'll just ask, she'll probably say no anyway but it can't do any harm can it?" say Jade with a shrug.

Hermione didn't have anything to say to that and so the conversation ended. The Weasley twins did a good job of distracting Jade and started telling the two girls about their many pranking adventures. By the end of the evening Jade was laughing along with the boys and even Hermione was smiling good-naturedly, though she still let a disapproving look come onto her face whenever she could remain serious enough.

* * *

It was the next day that they had their first conversation with Ron in a while. The two girls were sitting at a table in the common room and Ron had joined them after a few minutes. Christopher was apparently off to the library and would be there for a while. Hermione and Jade welcome the younger Weasley boy warmly, neither of the girls' had anything against Ron. In fact, the only reason they hadn't seen him a lot in the past weeks was because he hanged out with Christopher most of the time. The red haired boy only came to see them when his best friend wasn't around. In the same way Jade knew that Hermione often went to chat with her twin and Ron when she was at her Quidditch practices. It didn't bother her as she knew that the disagreement was between herself and her brother and had nothing to do with the two remaining members of the dissolved quartet.

The three of them had settled to do homework. Which mostly meant copying Jade's essay as far as it concerned Ron. Hermione wasn't pleased, of course, as she disapproved of copying. She didn't say anything though, as she was rather happy to have the boy with them (though she would never admit it) and didn't wish to spoil it. When Crookshanks strolled munching on a spider while looking at Ron insolently, the boy groaned in disgust.

"Does he HAVE to eat that thing in front of us?" he asked grumpily.

Hermione ignored him and bent to pet the orange cat.

"Did you catch that yourself?" she cooed. "So clever, crookshanks!"

Ron scowled.

"Just keep over there that's all." he continued nobly dropping the argument. "I've got Scabbers in my bag."

No sooner had the words left his mouth that the miniature tiger leapt on the boy's school bag, plating his sharp teeth in it and shaking it savagely from side to side.

"OY!" yelled Ron, snatching his bag back.

The whole common room was now watching, to Jade's embarrassment. Fortunately or unfortunately, she didn't have much space to worry about that aspect of the situation as it gradually worsened.

"Don't hurt him!" cried Hermione as Crookshanks was thrown backwards.

Ron didn't take any notice of the girl, as he noticed that Scabbers had escaped from his bag and was now running with all his might, closely followed by the orange devil of a cat. Ron wasted no time and started chasing the cat.

"Catch that cat!" he yelled.

George launched forward but Crookshanks slipped away from his grasp. Scabbers took this opportunity to run under a cupboard. The cat slid to a halt, and started poking his nose and paw under wooden piece of furniture in an attempt to catch the rat. Hermione ran over and grabbed him, lifting the cat into her arms before he could do any more damage. Ron dragged Scabbers out with difficulty.

"Look at him!" he said accusingly to Hermione. "All skin and bones, and that's the fault of YOUR cat!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" replied Hermione pressing the cat more tightly against her. "All cats chase rats, Ron! It's instinct!"

Ron shook his head.

"There's something funny about that animal." he said furiously as he tried to convince Scabbers to go back into his pocket. "He heard me say Scabbers was in my bag…"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous! He _smelled_ Scabbers!"

"That cat's after Scabbers, I'm telling you. Anyway Scabbers was here first AND he's ill!"

With that Ron left with a last glare to Hermione and marched to the boys' dorms.

* * *

The next day, they had Transfiguration, and Jade took her chance to ask Professor McGonagall about Hogsmeade.

"Er, Professor?" she asked after the class had ended.

"Yes, Potter?" replied the Deputy Headmistress sharply peering at her over her glasses in a familiar manner.

"Erm, well I was wondering if it would be okay for me to go to Hogsmeade…" Jade trailed off, knowing perfectly well what the answer would be.

"I seem to remember that your parents haven't signed the form, Miss Potter, in which case I'm afraid I cannot let you go." replied the teacher.

"Oh." said Jade with a hint of disappointment.

Professor McGonagall looked at her with a strange expression. Was it pity? In any case she didn't say another word and so Jade took her leave. She joined Hermione outside. The bushy haired girl guessed what the answer was by her friend's expression, and though she tried to comfort the raven haired girl, she couldn't quite hide her all-for-the-better expression.

"Well, there's always the feast." said Hermione in a final attempt to lift her friend's spirit up.

Jade looked at her blankly.

"You know the Halloween feast in the evening."

Jade blinked. She had completely forgotten about Halloween. And though it wasn't enough to make her forget her disappointment completely, it was a small comfort, however, she couldn't help thinking, it would have been even better after a day in Hogsmeade.

Jade's bitter mood lasted until evening and all her friend's tried to lift her spirits. Seamus who was good with a quill offered to forge a signature, but as Jade had already told McGonagall she hadn't gotten the form signed, that wasn't good. And Hermione wouldn't have let her anyway. Percy was the least helpful.

"Hogsmeade is all over done, you know." he told Jade quite seriously. "There's nothing extraordinary about it…"

"Shut up, Percy." said Fred cutting his brother rudely, earning a reproachful look from the Prefect. "If you want anything from Hogsmeade, me and George can buy it for you." offered the red haired boy.

Jade smiled gratefully. She didn't point out that she could ask Hermione, which would actually be more logical, as she could see the boy was trying hard to please her.

"It's alright, it doesn't matter. I'll do my homework before anybody else does and then I'll be able to taunt all of you when you're stuck in your books and I have leisure time." she said in an attempt of joviality.

She earned a few smiles, though nobody seemed to buy it.

It occurred to her later that evening that Christopher was probably not able to go either. She gazed around the room but her twin was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the raven haired girl realised she hadn't seen him at all in a while. He always seemed to be in the library or in the boys' dorms these days, which made one wonder if he was avoiding her. The thought made her angry and she quickly banished it. Why should she care anyway? He was free to do whatever he wanted, SHE was certainly not begging for his attention!

Halloween was thus welcomed in a very sour mood.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm sure you're tired of me apologizing for taking so much time to write chapters, so I won't this time. Instead I'll apologize for it being so short ^^**

**As always I appreciate your reviews and support and hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Halloween morning was to Jade's experience the most depressing morning of her life. Not only was she unable to go to Hogsmeade, the thought that Christopher may be avoiding her had made its way in her mind and was now thoroughly obsessing her. For example, when she had gotten up that morning, she had noticed immediately that her twin wasn't in the common room even though Ron was already there. The red haired boy had invoked Christopher's wish to sleep late, but of course, Jade knew that the boy wasn't one for lazy mornings, if any **she **was the one who could stay in bed for hours on end, in the morning. To top it all, she had remembered the previous Halloweens at Hogwarts, especially the one in her first year…No doubt, Halloween was an unlucky day.

"We'll bring back sweets from Honeydukes." said Hermione, as they sat eating breakfast.

"Yeah, loads." added Ron who had temporarily forgotten his disagreement with Hermione in the face of Jade's sour mood.

"Don't worry about me." answered the raven haired girl bravely. "I'll see you at the feast. Have fun."

Though Jade sincerely hoped her tone had been light-hearted, she could tell it hadn't by the faces her friends were pulling, or maybe they just hadn't bought it…

"You're not going, Potter?" sneered a well-known voice behind her. "Too scared of the Dementors?"

The raven haired girl shot up to her feet, while banging both her hands on the table, successfully startling the neighbouring students. The desire to murder someone pulsed strongly in her mind. Jade forced her inner self to kick out the mass of murder intent and turned around. Feeling a little too emotionally tired to start arguing (not to mention her wish of bloody murder rose stronger whenever she laid eyes on the blond idiot), the raven haired girl blatantly ignored the group of sniggering Slytherins and left the Great Hall. She made her solitary way up the marble staircase and reached the Common Room in what seemed a few seconds.

"Password?" said the Fat Lady.

"_Fortuna Major_." replied Jade unenthusiastically.

Truth was, she wanted to scream 'what a joke!', but common sense told her that even when passwords were badly chosen it wasn't wise to scream in the corridors. As soon as she stepped in, Jade realised she had made a mistake. The room was filled with first and second years, happily chatting amongst themselves, radiating what is known as 'joyfulness'. Spotting Colin Creevey was the final blow. Deciding in an instant that she would not spend a second more in that kind of innocent atmosphere, Jade turned on her heels and went back through the portrait hole.

"That was quick." commented the Fat Lady with the hint of annoyance that an extremely busy person who had been bothered for something insignificant would have.

Jade gave the portrait her best 'kicked puppy' look and slowly walked away. Having nothing to do a part from working, Jade decided to go to the library. As she had expected it was mostly empty. However, the lack of students only made it easier to spot Christopher sitting at a table in a corner. The raven haired girl felt like a boxer who had just been KO-ed. With all the bad luck of the world on her shoulders, she marched off, without really knowing where she was going. Eventually she realised she wasn't too far from Remus'. In a matter of moments, she was knocking on the man's door.

"Oh Jade! Where's Hermione?" asked the man as he opened his door.

"Hogsmeade." she replied in an attempt of a casual mood.

"I see." said Remus not buying it at all. "Well why don't you come in? I've just taken delivery of a Grindylow for our next lesson."

Jade followed the teacher inside forgetting a little about her misfortunes.

"A what?" she asked as she gazed upon the sickly green creature with pointy horns which was pressing its face against the glass of a tank, in the corner of the room.

"Water demon." said Lupin. "We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, especially after the Kappas. The trick is to break its grip. Did you notice the abnormally long fingers?" Jade nodded. "Strong but very brittle."

The Grindylow bared its fangs in a manner that was probably meant to be menacing but was somewhat diminished by the fact that he ran under some weeds a second later.

"Cup of tea?" asked Remus looking around the room. "I was just thinking of making one."

"All right." said the raven haired girl who had no qualms about making herself at home and was busy making some space on the desk for them to put their cups.

Jade silently as Remus busied himself with the tea. Once he was done he came to sit opposite her and gave her a steaming cup.

"Is anything worrying you, Jade?" asked Remus.

The raven haired girl gazed up at the man's worried eyes before looking back at her cup.

"No, not really." she muttered.

As she caught sight of the shadow of her eye in the tea, she jerked her head up.

"Actually, there is something." she started. "Do you remember the day we fought the Boggart?"

"Yes."

"Why did you call me before Christopher?" she asked somewhat suspicious.

The werewolf smiled lightly.

"Well, I thought having Voldermort appearing in a classroom wasn't the best one could hope for a first lesson." he said.

Jade laughed bitterly.

"Oh, that wouldn't have happened! It's more likely to have been a giant cockroach or something!"

The man looked at her questioningly. Jade however, looked away.

"Anyway, what I really wanted to ask about was the Dementor." she continued.

Remus' gaze immediately shifted to sympathy. But before he had time to reply there was a loud knock on the door.

"Come in!" called the man.

The door opened revealing Severus Snape, who was holding a cup which was smoking faintly. As soon as he caught sight of Jade, Snape's eyes narrowed.

"Ah Severus!" said Remus apparently not noticing the tension between his two guests. "Thank you very much. Could you leave it on the desk for me, please?"

Without a word the dark haired man carefully placed the cup on the desk and left.

"I was just showing Jade my Grindylow." said Remus in a pleasant attempt to start a conversation.

"Fascinating." replied the other man coldly earning himself a glare from Jade. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, yes, I will."

"I made an entire cauldron-full, if you need more."

"I'll probably take some more tomorrow. Thank you very much, Severus"

"Not at all." replied the greasy haired man curtly before leaving the room.

Jade eyed the potion suspiciously.

"Maybe you should poison-check it." she suggested.

"Jade!" scolded the man good-naturedly.

"Ah well, don't blame me if you're killed!"

With a big grin, Remus shooed her out saying he had work to do.

* * *

"There you go." said Ron placing a mountain of sweets in the raven haired girl's arms. "We got as much as we could carry."

It was dusk and Ron and Hermione had just gotten back from Hogsmeade, their faces pink from the cold and looking like they just had had the time of their lives. Since Christopher hadn't reappeared yet, Ron had joyfully joined the girls.

"Thanks." said Jade forcing a smile. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?"

By the sound of it they had gone everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, easily the Weasley twins' favourite, the Three Broomsticks where they had had a taste of foaming mugs of Butterbeer and many other places.

"The post office, Jade! About two hundred owls al sitting on shelves, all-colour coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there."

"Honeydukes have got a new kind of fudge. They were giving free samples, there's a bit look…"

"We _think_ we saw an ogre, honestly they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks."

"Wish we could have brought you some butterbeer, really warms you up."

"What did you do?" asked Hermione suddenly looking anxious. "Did you get any work done?"

"I was going to but didn't in the end. I went to Professor Lupin's for tea and then Snape came in with some Potion…"

"Did Lupin _drink_ it?" asked Ron looking half-disgusted half-worried.

Jade bit her lip, she'd said too much.

"You know we should go down, the feast is about to start." she said making a show of looking at her watch.

They entered in the Great Hall which had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle filled pumpkins, live bats flying around and orange streamers floating lazily across the stormy ceiling.

Ron spotted Christopher before they reached the Gryffindor table and he hurried of to sit by him. The girls walked a little further before sitting. The food was delicious as it always was on such occasions. Sadly there wasn't any lemon pie, and Jade had soon eaten her fill. She let her eyes wander towards the Staff table. She had been joking when she had said that Snape could have put poison in the potion but all the same…And Snape was despicable after all. But her worries were quickly blown away as she laid eyes on Remus' joyful expression as he chatted animatedly with Professor Flitwick. However, as her green gaze switched to Snape, worry filled her heart again. What was that greasy git trying to do, shifting his eyes towards Remus more often than was natural?

She was soon distracted by Fred and George a few seats away who were telling hilarious jokes to their neighbours. By the time, the ghosts arrived to provide a final entertainment; Jade had forgotten her earlier bad mood and was thoroughly enjoying herself. She laughed with the rest at Sir Necklace's re-enactment of his own beheading. Her good mood wasn't even dented when Malfoy yelled 'The Dementors send their love, Potter' as she and Hermione were heading off to their common room.

The two girls went up the stairs with the crowd of Gryffindors still laughing at the twins' jokes. As they approached the Fat Lady's portrait however, they found the corridor jammed with students.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" asked Hermione.

Jade put herself on her tip-toes and try to peer over the crowd.

"I don't know, I can't see too well…"

"Let me through, please." came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the hold-up here? You can't have all forgotten the password!"

And then silence fell. There seemed to be a chill coming from the front row, spreading to the back. Then Percy's voice rose again, sharper.

"Somebody get Professor Dumbledore, quick."

People at the back were trying to see by standing on tip-toes.

"What's going on?" asked Ginny who had just arrived.

"I don't know." said Jade. "Something seems to have happened near the portrait."

Next moment, the Headmaster was there breaking a path through the crowd like Moses through the waters. The three girls took there chance to move closer to the front and finally got a look at the problem.

"Oh my…" whispered Hermione.

The Fat Lady's portrait had been savagely slashed, leaving strips of canvas littering the floor, great chunks of it had been torn away from it completely. As for the Fat Lady herself, she had vanished from her portrait.

Dumbledore took one look at the situation and turned around to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape hurrying forward.

"We need to find her." he announced. "Professor McGonagall, go to Mr Filch and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

The woman immediately hurried off, looking flustered. For a brief moment, Jade caught Remus' eye but the man quickly looked away as if he feared she would see in it some dark secret.

"You'll be lucky." said a cackling voice from the end of the corridor.

The poltergeist came bobbing towards the crowds a hideous smile plastered on his face.

"What do you mean Peeves?" asked Dumbledore sternly.

Peeves' grin faded a little: the Headmaster wasn't one he could taunt. He adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. Saw her running through the landscapes up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful." he said happily. "Poor thing." he added unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" asked Dumbledore quietly.

"Oh yes, your Professorhead." said Peeves with the mischievous air of a one hiding an atomic bomb. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and looked at Dumbledore between his legs, smiling once more. "Nasty temper he has that Sirius Black."

Dumbledore looked half-surprised before regaining his composure. The students were whispering loudly. As for Jade, she stayed there not understanding why that name caused such a ruckus. Instinctively she turned towards Remus for an answer but the man's livid face and wide eyes told her that he wouldn't tell her anything he knew. After all, it probably had something to do with what her parents had been hiding from her and Christopher all summer. She remembered seeing the very same look on her father's face, months before and she could tell whoever Sirius Black was he had something to do with her family. Or, she thought, he could be one of Voldermort's old followers…In which case he would be trying to kill Christopher…

A sigh escaped the raven haired girl's lips. Hadn't she said that Halloween was an unlucky day?


End file.
